Fifty years following passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was designed to prohibit states from using tactics that made voting more restrictive for Blacks, several states currently have laws in place that serve to do just that, and a majority of state legislatures are considering similar restrictive bills.
Democratic presidential candidate and former Maryland Gov.Martin O’Malley said Republicans in these states are seeking to “suppress the vote” by introducing legislation aimed at disenfranchising minority voters, and he is calling for a constitutional amendment that would put a stop to that.
“Last year, Republican state legislators in 29 states introduced more than 80 restrictive bills to require a photo ID, make voter registration harder, or reduce early voting,” O’Malley said in an email to supporters. “We know why they’re doing this: because Americans without a photo ID are disproportionately low-income, disabled, minority and Democratic.”
